In the first what are sure to many, many middle-finger gestures in the direction of San Francisco and California generally, wrathful Republicans high on Trump's secret sauce are trying to take back $200 million that was granted to the Presidio, which is federal park land, to address the deferred maintenance needs of its buildings.

Republicans in Congress now need to make a show of how they plan to pay for the absurd and impractical things Donald Trump has been promising his supporters, including the mass deportation of immigrants. And now the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee has compiled a 50-page wish list of new taxes, tariffs, and funding cuts they want to make — with a view toward not impacting the deficit too much, which will anger hardline budget-hawk House members.

As the New York Times reports, the list includes a litany of longtime Republican priorities, like cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and imposing a work requirement on able-bodied Medicaid recipients. They also want to roll back climate initiatives launched under the Biden Administration, including tax credits that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act, saying they could recoup $800 billion that way.

They also want to start taxing non-profit hospitals by eliminating their non-profit status, which is estimated to bring in $260 billion over 10 years. And they want to eliminate Head of Household status for unmarried taxpayers who have children, taking away that tax savings for middle-class Americans in order pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

The list includes plenty of things that will cost the government money, like extending Trump's 2017 tax cut, and ending the estate tax for the wealthy ($370 billion in costs over 10 years). In a nod to one campaign promise that was made by both Harris and Trump, they suggest eliminating the tax on tips — though many critics have point out this could lead to abuse, like via the definition of "tips."

But buried in this barage of attacks on Democrat-championed programs and various things that benefit the poor and elderly, most of which are being measured in the billions or trillions of dollars, is one line item that is just a blatant fuck you to San Francisco and Nancy Pelosi. They want to claw back $200 million that was promised two years ago to the Presidio Trust as part of the Inflation Reduction Act to address the needs of the park's aging infrastructure.

As the Chronicle reports, the Presidio has previously estimated its deferred maintenance needs around $500 million, so this federal grant only covers a portion of the total need. And as Presidio Trust CEO Jean Fraser said at the time of the grant, "We have a lot of very old stuff. If we had to rely on our own [funding] resources, systems would fail before we could get to them."

Pelosi announced the funding in 2023, saying, "This critical federal funding will ensure the Presidio’s spectacular front window to the Bay is maintained by renewing and replacing aged utilities and their infrastructure... [and it] will preserve the beauty and accessibility of the Presidio — now and into the future."

Now, the House Ways and Means Committee document states, how the funding was granted "was not consistent with standard agency practices for selecting priority deferred maintenance projects." If this makes it into the final package of cuts and spending that Republicans want to get passed through reconciliation, via their very slim majorities in the House and Senate, the transfer of funds to the Presidio — which apparently hasn't happened in the last year and a half — will be canceled.

Oh, and by the way, Trump's border wall is back in play on the list too. The Homeland Committee says it wants around $25 billion to construct 734 miles of 33-foot-high concrete fencing, in addition to replacing legacy fencing. That $200 million from the Presidio funding will sure help with that.

Photo via Presidio.gov